Problem

How many sons of Gideon were slain?

Judges 8:30 - And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.Judges 9:24 - That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.

Gideon is said to have 70 sons in Judges 8:30. According to Judges 9:5 Gideon's son by a concubine, Abimelech, killed all 70 of his brothers, except his youngest brother named Jotham. However, even though there are clearly 2 sons of Gideon that weren't slain (Abimelech and Jotham), the chapter says several times that Abimelech killed all 70 of Gideon's sons. What is the explanation of this apparent math problem?

Solution

Agree (6)Disagree (2)

75%

25%

75%

Judges 8:30 is saying that Gedeon had 70 sons (BEFORE) the birth of Abimelech, which would exclude Abimelech from the number. His brother Jotham was born later on to Gideon, thus being the youngest son, which would not include him in the "70" number aswell. Thus Gideonn had a total of 72 sons, but Judges 8:30 is saying that he had 70 sons before Abimelech, and Jotham was not yet born, which explains why the 2 were not counted. No Contradiction.